Gary Hime

Prof. Hime received his Ph.D. in 1994 from the University of Adelaide where he studied with Prof. R. Saint the developmental control of cytokinesis in the Drosophila embryo. He entered the field of reproductive biology as a C.J. Martin Fellow at Stanford University where he studied aspects of Drosophila spermatogenesis in the laboratory of Prof. Margaret Fuller, Department of Developmental Biology. He continued an interest in cell division and characterized a gene required for meiotic cytokinesis. As part of this work he developed a novel assay for detection of actin filaments in the Drosophila testis and assisted the laboratory of Dr. Chris Bazinet, St. John’s University, New York to adapt this assay for the study of sperm individualisation. In addition he began the characterization of mutants that affect stem cell maintenance and differentiation in the testis.

Upon his return to Australia he set up a Drosophila facility with Prof. David Bowtell at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Institute. There he utilised the genetic tools available in Drosophila to dissect oncogene function. In 1999 he set up his current laboratory at the University of Melbourne. He continued to use Drosophila as a genetic model for the study of human disease genes as well as spermatogenesis studies as a founding CI in the ARC Centre of Excellence in Biotechnology and Development. This work has evolved into utilising both Drosophila and mouse models to study stem cell function in the male reproductive tract and gastrointestinal tract as well as to analyse the contribution of stem cell regulators to tumourigenesis